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Culture Wars Part 2: Flattery or, “the good hair”

Humans have been arranging their hair since the dawn of humanity, and have probably been doing so together for just as long.

We see each other’s styles and if we like them, we emulate them, because all human behavior is initially emulation (*all of it) and because that is the highest form of flattery – everyone does it, that’s how we learn anything new at all, hairstyles are no exception.

All humans have come to use braids in their hairstyles.

All humans have come to use beads of some kind in their cultures.

My little girl asked for beads in her hair, because she thought they look pretty – to her that is “the good hair”.

She saw other little girls with braids in their hair, that had beads on the ends, and she wanted to look pretty like that too.

Little girls like to talk like each other, act like each other, dress like each other, and, wear their hair like each other. That’s just a few of the many things little girls do to discover and become themselves.

Yes, those other little girls are black, and yes, my daughter is not.

She is human, just like all those other little girls.

No one has any right to tell a little girl that she can’t think something is pretty and then emulate it.

But the next time you feel like you do have that right: don’t tell me about it. Look into that little girl’s eyes and tell her she can’t look like those girls she likes. Go ahead. I’ll wait while you realize how ridiculous these adult social notions have become.

P.s., thanks for nothing. It took less than the blink of an eye for you fuckers to poison my little girl’s dreams.